MAKING TRACKS: Downtown station not likely

Thursday

May 31, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 31, 2007 at 10:16 AM

An Oft Repeated Rumor — From time to time we have residents ask us whether or not there will be a train station in the center of the Village. The realistic answer is probably not. Way back in the beginning of the Greenbush design, the MBTA had originally designed the system with a train station in the center of Town near the Town Parking Lot.

An Oft Repeated Rumor — From time to time we have residents ask us whether or not there will be a train station in the center of the Village. The realistic answer is probably not. Way back in the beginning of the Greenbush design, the MBTA had originally designed the system with a train station in the center of Town near the Town Parking Lot. But, the route the train would have taken would be a lot different from what you see today. Technically, the curve in the center of Town is too sharp for a station platform. So, to put the station here, the tracks would be moved almost to where James Lane and the new small parking lot are located. This is much closer to the residential area. Needless to say, the residents in this area were not too keen to have the train adjacent to their neighborhood and lobbied vigorously to have the station moved. Those in favor of a village station were much quieter. Based principally of what they heard, the Selectmen voted to put the station on route 3A.

Fast forward to several years later, the topic of downtown train station was brought forward again by a number of residents. Since the village area has precious few parking resources, the idea was floated for the MBTA to build a station in the downtown area without parking, or a what is sometimes called a “kiss and ride” station. The only possible location for such a station with enough space for an 800-foot long platform was behind the new library. 800 feet is the maximum length of a train, and handicap access rules mandate the platform be the same length so every occupant can enter or exit from any car.

The Town took this new station concept to the MBTA that said it was feasible. Further, the MBTA said they would “not do anything to preclude the Town from constructing it.” So there you have it. All we need is a spare $3 million, or so, and we can have station in the village.

Around the Greenbush —Most of the Greenbush crossings now look pretty complete. The exceptions to this are King Street and the new North Main Street entrance / exit at the Cohasset Station, and of course the station itself.

For the next several weeks you will likely see a lot of workmen clustered about the N. Main St. / Forest Ave. / King Street area. We are told that this is a high priority area. It’s easy to see why. There is quite a bit of finishing and some corrective action that needs to be done here.

You may have noticed new black posts that were recently installed at North Main Street and Forest Avenue. Before long, these posts will be holding brand new traffic lights. (Yep, that’s correct! Traffic Lights! And, they are not on 3A, but on little old Main St.) The reason that traffic lights are needed here is that the railroad crossing is very close to the busy North Main St. / Forest Ave. intersection. It is possible that, when a train is coming, cars can back up from the gates into the intersection. The traffic lights will be used with sophisticated sensor system to control the traffic based on the current train activity.

There will also be traffic islands that must yet be installed at the King Street crossing. But, the design of these islands has been modified to accommodate the wide turns that large semi-trailers makes when bringing loads from the recycling facility to our regional collection point. In addition, in preparation for the sidewalk that the Town will be constructing to the station, the Town has agreed to pay the MBTA to construct a small section of sidewalk from N. Main Street to Laugelle Lane. This sidewalk section will include the necessary gates, control and safety equipment for a pedestrian crossing at the tracks.

To the casual observer, there is still a lot of work to be accomplished at the Cohasset station site. However, most of this activity cannot be easily viewed from either Route 3A or N. Main St. But, look for the large dirt piles to begin disappearing over the next month or two.

Rock Breaking in Town — As the rock fracturing and removal at the edge of the Town Parking Lot winds down, another crew will be arriving in Cohasset on Forest Avenue. We have spoken several times about the Forest Ave. sidewalk and paving project that is now under way. The first phase of tree removal in preparation for the sidewalks has been completed. The next phase will be the removal of ledge that will be interfering with the construction of this long awaited sidewalk. A number of years ago, a blasting expert came in and “popped” some of the ledge, but not all of it. (Pop is a highly technical term for fracturing the ledge into smaller pieces that can be easily removed.) So, a new crew of rock removers will take care of the last bit of ledge to get ready for the sidewalk starting Monday, June 4th. They will more than likely be hammering it into smaller pieces rather than blasting. We expect that it will take them about two weeks to get rid of the ledge. Following that, the same contractor will be doing excavation to set the base elevation for the sidewalk from N. Main Street to just south of Holly Circle. This same contractor will be responsible for all of the construction work starting with the curb and moving outward to the edge of the roadway work. Another contractor will be doing the construction work in the roadway, itself. As work progresses you will see one contractor do a few tasks, then the second contractor will do some work, followed by the first contractor again. This may appear crazy, but the work needs to be sequenced this way for contractors with the required expertise to do what each contractor does best; i.e. sidewalk experts do the sidewalks and road experts do the roads. We will continue to update you periodically as the work progresses.

Tom Gruber, Special Assistant to the Town Manager for Greenbush Affairs, Email:

cgbaffairs@townofcohasset.org

Mark Brennan, Special Assistant to the Town Manager for Greenbush Engineering, Email: